Good Fruit Grower

November 2012

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GOOD TO GO For a complete listing of upcoming events, check the Calendar at www.goodfruit.com. NOVEMBER November 3–11 Mechanization and Tree Fruit in Italy and the EIMA/Interpoma exposition. Technical tour with WeCu, Inc. Contact Susan Pheasant, (509) 421-0358 or e-mail susan@wecuinc.com. November 4–5 Irrigation Show, Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Florida. For more information, e-mail info@irrigationshow.org, or visit www.irrigationshow.org. growers to meet WA grape T he annual meeting of the Washington State Grape Society, scheduled for November 15-16, will provide grape grow- ers with a host of information, from fed- eral grape research funding to labor- saving technology to pest and disease control. Keynote speaker is Dr. Sally Schneider of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's research branch in Beltsville, Maryland, who will discuss grape research models from a national perspective. Vicky Scharlau, president of the National Grape and Wine Initiative, a coalition of the nation's grape industry, will explain the coalition's goals of research, extension, and education. Growers will see and hear about robotic technology being developed to prune grapevines by Tony Koselka of Vision Robotics. Panel discussions will examine the effective use of labor versus mechanization, while another will explore the economic future of juice grapes. Visit www.grapesociety.org to register for the event. conference Tilth T ilth Producers of Washington will hold their annual conference at Fort Wor- den State Park, Port Townsend, Washing- ton, November 9–11. The theme of the three-day event is: "Growing Forward: Holistic Management of Organic Farms." The conference will begin with a one- day Washington State University sympo- sium on germplasm issues and management. Also on November 9, Grant Gibbs and Albert Roberts will lead a hands-on farm mechanics workshop. Allan Savory, keynote speaker at the conference, will discuss how small farm- ers can lead the world through new approaches to agriculture. The program includes 26 workshops, during which growers, researchers, and educators will share their expertise on organic farm practices and issues. Social events will include a cider tasting and a wine and cheese tasting. Check the Web site tilthproducers.org/ programs/conference-2 for details. www.goodfruit.com acreage in apples and pears. From November to February, we can deal with arctic events that will take our temperature into the single digits—and even subzero. A I really don't think it's possible to grow stone fruit economically in the Yakima Valley without wind machines. This last year, we would not have even had an apricot crop without them. All of our wind machine purchases since 1982 have been Orchard-Rite. In the wintertime, when we're starting these machines, the temperatures are usually single digits to subzero. We depend on—and have complete confidence in—our Orchard-Rite® We still have the first Orchard-Rite® Wind Machines and the service we receive. Wind Machine we ever bought! We're real believers in the Auto Start option. We order Auto Start on all our new machines. To date, we've retrofitted about 50% of our old machines, and plan to put the Auto Start on the remaining machines. Steve Nunley, Farming Operations Manager Pride Packing, Wapato, Washington Get the Orchard-Rite® story from your nearest representative: 1615 W. Ahtanum • Yakima, WA 98903 • 509-248-8785, ext. 612 For the representative nearest you, visit our Web site: www.orchard-rite.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER NOVEMBER 2012 47 "We're real believers in the Auto Start option." November 12–13 Sustainable Ag Expo, Monterey Conference Center, Monterey, California. For more information, visit www.sustainableagexpo.org. November 13–14 2013 Northwest Cherry Research Review, Red Lion Hotel Yakima Center, Yakima, Washington. Contact Kathy Schmidt, (509) 665-8271, Ext. 2, or go online to www.treefruitresearch.com. November 15 An Introduction to USDA's Fruit and Vegetable Market News (in Spanish), 2–3 p.m. Eastern time, free interactive webinar at http://bit.ly/R4eBrm. Also will be available online, along with Orchard-Rite® other archived webinar titles. Contact Christopher Purdy at (202) 720-3209 or e-mail christopher.purdy@ams.usda.gov. November 15–17 Interpoma conference and trade show for cultivation, storage, and marketing of apples, Fiera Bolzano, Italy. Contact Alice Carnellini, +39-059-7863894, or go online to www.interpoma.it. November 29 2013 Stone Fruit Research Review, Washington State University, Prosser, Washington. Contact Kathy Schmidt, (509) 665-8271, Ext. 2, or go online to www.treefruitresearch.com. Wind Machines • www.orchard-rite.com "Orchard Rite Service is second to none." Steve Nunley s the operations manager for Pride Packing, I am responsible for managing 2,800 acres of orchard under 260 wind machines. Of that, approximately 1,000 acres are in stone fruit with the remaining

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